How to carve a roast

The task of carving the roast lamb or chook should not be left to an amateur this Christmas. According to chef Adrian Richardson, carving is a skill akin to performance art. He shared his tips with Justine Costigan.

Adrian Richardson demonstrates how not to make a meal of the roast this Christmas. Photo: Eddie Jim

Justine Costigan

Carving meat at the table should be a great culinary performance. Chef, cookbook author and meat-guru Adrian Richardson says the meat should be placed at the head of the table where everyone can watch the process. It's the privilege of the carver to help themselves to the choice pieces of meat but he says you need to be cunning or small children will pick off those delicious, crunchy morsels before you get to them.

Before you start

Resting meatThe only way to guarantee a tender and juicy piece of meat is to let it rest for half the time it has been cooked. Meat can be returned to the oven briefly to warm it through before serving, if desired.

How to carve a roast

Carving toolsA carving fork and good carving knives are essential. Make sure you test any knives before you buy them - a good knife will feel right in your hands and will last a lifetime if you look after it. It's worth the initial investment. Make sure your knives are sharp. If you're not sure how to sharpen a knife ask your butcher for tips or check out DIY knife sharpening clips on Youtube. Always store your knives properly. A traditional carving board is useful as it will often come with a trough to catch the meat juices but a big chopping board is also a good alternative.

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Carving

Roast chicken / turkeyThe principles of carving a chicken can be applied to most poultry including turkey.

Start by lifting your bird from the roasting tray where it has been resting to a board. Have a serving platter ready. A carving fork or tongs are the best tools to use. If the chicken has been trussed remove any string and discard.

Remove the whole leg (drumstick and thighs) by cutting through until you find the hip bone, then slide your knife behind the bone and cut through the thigh. To separate the thigh from the drumstick, simply twist the drumstick away from the thigh. The thigh can also be cut into two pieces by cutting away from the bone – keep the bone for any family member who loves to chew on them.

Breast meat: Find the backbone of the chicken and cut down alongside the bone until the breast come away whole. Place the breast on your board and cut into nice even pieces. You'll get about 6 pieces per breast from an average chook.

Twist the wings from the bird using your carving fork (get your butcher to remove the wishbone for you to make it even easier).

Repeat the whole process on the other side of the chicken.

If you have any stuffing or cavity juices spoon them onto your serving plate. Pour any juices left on the carving board over the meat.

If there's any meat left on the bird, pick it off and add it to your serving platter. Use leftover bones and meat to make a simple chicken stock.

If you're nervous about carving a turkey on Christmas Day while everyone watches your every move, practise your carving technique in advance on a roast chicken.

Leg of lambLift the leg of lamb from its roasting dish onto a carving board. You need to carve across the grain of the meat so make sure the lamb is in a good position to do this. The grain goes along the bone, but if you're still unsure remember meat carves more easily and smoothly across the grain.

Put your carving fork into the lamb at a slight angle a short distance back from where you would like to start carving. Slice the meat thinly gradually moving the fork as you go.

When you reach the bone, change the position of the knife and fork and use the fork to help balance the knife as its slices across the bone.

Only carve as much as you need. Once meat has been sliced it will dry out so leave the meat on the bone, in the fridge, until you decide what to do with any leftovers.

Lamb should not be too rare, a blush of pink in the middle is perfect. Lamb that's too rare will be chewy.

HamChoose a flexible carving knife with a finely serrated edge as it is the best for cutting very fine slices. Large serrations will tear the meat.

Decide where you would like to begin (a nice round part of the ham is a good choice) and cut away the glazed skin until you reach the meat. Keep all these lovely crunchy bits to serve with your ham.

If you're slicing a cold ham – cut a flap of fat and skin away and fold it back from the meat. Don't separate it completely as the flap will help keep the ham moist when stored.

Insert the carving fork at an angle a few places back from where you want to carve. Begin slicing, gradually moving the fork back as required.

For ham on the bone see the roast lamb carving tips for slicing tips.

Once you've finished slicing in one direction, turn the ham to another positon.

Cut only what you need and store your ham leg in a ham bag in the fridge.

4 comments so far

My favourite resource for ham-carving is this video by Gary Mclean and Peter Frost of the Hunter Institute of TAFE. Not only is it a gem of its type, it also is one of the few places to learn the real way to do it - the carving of ham like a leg of lamb is an outrage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drRH5nHk9vs

Commenter

Bill

Location

Tempe

Date and time

December 12, 2012, 11:52AM

Your So Right Bill, Well said. Yep its a great example of how to Carve a Ham Properly.These guys you mention Gary Mclean and Peter Frost Know their stuff.Just like my Butcher at Kareela Shops, Old Guys Rule. : )

Commenter

GB

Location

Oyster Bay

Date and time

December 12, 2012, 1:52PM

Working for a butcher, I was taught to carve a ham like you would cut a branch lay it flat and cut vertically.Lie the ham flat on the bench with the trotter end at the left.Use a finger like a knife and stick it into the fat between the ham and skin, and peel the skin away from the shoulder (right end), leaving a flap that can be put back.When you have enough ham clear make vertical cuts with the knife until you hit the bone, and then cut off with a horizontal cut. Work your way from right to left as you consume the ham, turning it over as needed.This cuts the ham across the grain and provided nice tender slices free of the stringy meat, as well as keeping a minimum of the flesh exposed.

Commenter

CT

Location

Meatville

Date and time

December 12, 2012, 1:01PM

I've had many carving knives over the years - also got an electronic sharpener that you just slide the knife into at the optimum angle onto a rotating stone that never seems to wear out - had it years, does scissors too and sharpens the knifes like a scalpel.These days I'm using a rather spiffy electronic carving knife that uses two serated blades that move the opposite direction to each other - the result is either thin or thick cuts, cut to perfection and the serated blades seem to fluff the meat up a little which gives it an awesome texture even if the meat is slightly overdone and cut thinner. Can't go wrong with one of those and on my 3rd carving fork! Blades on the electric carving knife are still razor sharp after over 8 years of use and the blades are still as sharp as the day I brought it!